Filed under: Anecdotes
It’s funny, I’m not sure how many I don’t see riding by the shop, but sometimes I feel that no one can ride by on their bike without my being aware of it. You can’t escape the watchful eye of the bike mechanic; especially not on beautiful days like today.
It’s that corner of the eye motion that causes me to whip my head up and look out the window. There’s something about the action of a cyclist that draws the eye and attention, something that’s different from the motion of a car or motorcycle. It’s the locomotion of the legs perhaps, or maybe the contrast of speed.
Whenever it happens though, I’m naturally curious to see who’s riding by the shop, what they’re riding, and maybe even how much repair their bike looks like it needs. Sometimes you’ll be so far away I am amazed I even noticed. Not too far away though for me to see you’re riding a little under-inflated, is that a dry chain I hear? (and, no, those new bars don’t look like they stretch you out too far.)
How can you resist the urge, magnetism that pulls you into the doors of a bike shop? Do you at least glance at the shop, throw a wave in it’s direction, give a head nod? I can’t say I really blame you all for riding by. Most of this banter is just the envy of a bike mechanic that, ironically, doesn’t get to ride as much as he’d like.
2 Comments so far
Leave a comment
and if they only knew that stopping would yield cold pizza…yum.
Comment by Jesse 05.11.09 @ 11:30 pmI hear ya.
“Always with the evaluation!”
Saddle too low?
Helmet too far back?
Taking the lane or door-zone-fodder?
Good cadence?
I can’t stop thinking about these things. I sometimes don’t recognise cyclists I’ve taught without their bikes.
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>